BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Barbados’ Foreign Minister Kerrie Symmonds has expressed concerns at the recent United States (US) military strikes on vessels suspected of drug trafficking, saying the actions may have bypassed due process and risk setting a dangerous precedent.

Late last month, President Donald Trump ordered the US military to strike a boat in the Caribbean Sea off Venezuela, killing 11, allegedly carrying drugs and last week, he told reporters from the Oval Office that he had strong evidence that the latest boat in which three people were killed, was also carrying drugs.

The Trinidad and Tobago government of Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has come out publicly in support of the United States sending naval and military troops to waters near Venezuela as part of Washington’s crackdown on narco-trafficking.

She praised the US military strike on an alleged drug-carrying vessel in the southern Caribbean, saying she had “no sympathy for traffickers” and that the US military should “kill them all violently”.

However, in an interview with the online publication, Barbados TODAY, Foreign Minister Symmonds said that while the Caribbean appreciates US support in intercepting suspected drug traffickers, concern has escalated “since the conduct of the two military strikes on vessels in the region’s water”.

“This, as far as I am concerned, is a matter that ought to be treated to in the context of a discussion about preserving the rule of law. I believe that most people in this region would agree that we would much prefer to see suspected criminals being identified and interdicted,” he told the publication, contending that that is the customary standard of conduct followed in both the US and in every country in this region.

“Folks who are suspected are usually arrested, tried, and if convicted, then they are sentenced. It is a dangerous and very slippery slope for all of us, if we choose to follow a path where we arbitrarily determine that circumstances point to guilt and that therefore an assassination should take place,” Symmonds added.

The Barbados foreign affairs minister said that in no Caribbean country is there any practice of suspects being executed without any reference to what those facing the execution may have to say in their own defence.

“If any innocent people, whether from a Caribbean country or from the United States or any other country, happen to be targeted and accidentally killed in this way, then we will have a most difficult and disastrous incident to contend with. It is for that very essential reason that I feel that dialogue is necessary. We cannot seek to uphold the rule of law and be seen to be desecrating it at the same time. This is a deeply troubling issue that is crying out for careful consideration,” Symmonds said.

Caribbean Community (Caricom) foreign affairs ministers have sent a joint letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling for assurances that any military action targeting Venezuela will not jeopardise regional stability or be undertaken unilaterally without prior consultation.

Symmonds said the correspondence emphasised the need for advance notice, where feasible, of actions likely to affect the region, and for ongoing review of the diplomatic dialogue between Caribbean states and Washington.

Symmonds told Barbados TODAY that so far there has been no formal response from Rubio.

“I can confirm that the letter to the US Secretary of State was sent off. We have received no formal response as yet,” he told the publication